Jahja Ling has appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra under just about every circumstance. Over the years, he's conducted everything from educational events and concerts on Public Square to piano competition finals and subscription evenings at Severance Hall. On several occasions, he's even played the part of piano soloist. Yet the situation he's about to enter is unprecedented. When he steps onto the podium today and Sunday, Aug. 9, at Blossom Music Center, he'll be in the position of observing a 25-year relationship with the orchestra, both as a resident conductor and frequent guest. "Giving great performances is one thing," says Ling, with typical pep, by phone from Greensboro, N.C. "But keeping it up for 25 years, and then passing it on to young people? That's an accomplishment." In 1984, when music director Christoph von Dohnanyi spotted Ling at the San Francisco Youth Symphony and appointed him associate conductor in Cleveland, no one could have accurately estimated his potential. Sure, Leonard Bernstein once predicted Ling would be a great conductor someday. But not even Lenny could have known that a one-time piano prodigy from Indonesia would prove to be one of the most capable, reliable and enduring figures ever to grace the Cleveland stage. "Every time I get up there, I feel a huge responsibility to inspire them to do their best," Ling explains, noting a spark that still exists after 25 years. "There's interaction, and trust, between the orchestra and me. The enthusiasm for making great music is always there. It lifts your spirit." One year after his appointment here, Ling was promoted to resident conductor. Over the next 17 years, he fulfilled his duties in that role admirably, serving as understudy to guest conductors and leading a string of subscription, educational and other special concerts. Another big break came in 1999, when he was appointed director of the Blossom Music Festival, picking up the reins from Leonard Slatkin. He held that job until 2005. Meanwhile, Ling was wrapping up a 14-year term as director of the Florida Orchestra and a few years later, in 2003, was named to the title he still holds, music director of the San Diego Symphony. "I never would have dreamed it," Ling says. "The orchestra really shaped my musical life." Today, as Ling prepares for tonight's "Symphonic Marathon" encompassing Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony, Dvorak's Symphony No. 8, Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 and Mussorgsky's prelude to "Khovanshchina," 25 isn't the only number he can be proud of. In fact, Ling can boast of having led more than 300 concerts featuring 600 scores. Among them all, the conductor figures he's made music for some 1 million people in Northeast Ohio. "Not every time can you work magic," Ling says. "But that's always what you aim for." A few thousand more listeners will join the tally next Sunday, when Ling returns to Blossom for a formal, post-concert celebration of his anniversary (and to conduct the Second Symphony of Schumann and Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2, with pianist Garrick Ohlsson). The Schumann, especially, is close to Ling's heart. While the Second Symphony of Sibelius is what Ling conducted on his first performance at Severance, Schumann's Second is what the Cleveland Orchestra was playing the first time he heard the group, on a recording conducted by former music director George Szell. "It dropped my jaw," Ling recalls. "I couldn't believe an orchestra could play it so perfectly. It just took my breath away. To come back to it is very special." Other works stand out in Ling's mind for different reasons. Never, for instance, will he forget his performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 6 in December 1997, shortly after his first wife, Jane, learned she'd developed cancer. She passed away in August

1998. "It was a difficult time, and they played their hearts out for me," Ling says. More pleasant memories surround Ling's gig as a piano soloist at Severance Hall, in April 1987, playing the Grieg Concerto, and the time later that year when he stepped in at the last moment for Dohnanyi to conduct Schoenberg's challenging "Pelleas und Melisande." "Trying to make really good music, it was hard," Ling recalls. "I just kept my cool and just did what Christoph had wanted. Still, I tried to do my own pacing. It wasn't just a carbon copy." But of all Ling's many performances and triumphs over the years,

the one that makes him most proud is his formation of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in 1986. Twenty-three years later, that group, guided by the orchestra's assistant conductor, endures as one of the top youth orchestras in the country. Recently, the ensemble went so far as to tour Greater Boston under the direction of Jayce Ogren. "That was something unique," Ling says. "You don't start an orchestra every day. But I felt like I had the talent and I should give it to young people. I feel it's important to pass on what you have to the next generation, to make an impact that way." One way in which Ling has never been moved to make an impact in Cleveland: as music director. Sure, he's considered it, even dreamt about it. But the timing's never been right, he says, and one doesn't simply apply for the job of music director. Besides, he's more than content doing exactly what he's been doing for the last 25 years. "To give so many concerts, it's a blessing," Ling says. "I can never be grateful enough."